"HONOR FLIGHT" ~ "every day is a bonus"

Updated on March 3, 2013

"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid."

Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Honor Flight"

I feel very proud this day. My nephew, Dan Hayes, directed a film about a growing group of people who have made it their mission to fly every World War II Veteran to Washington, D.C. to visit the World War II Memorial, built in their honor. I saw the film last night and I was so touched that it brought tears to my eyes and to most of the audience, as well. The men and women who served in WWII gave more than we could ever repay to restore freedom and integrity in the world for future generations.

On average 900 of these heroes die each day and so the mission has an urgency that cannot be ignored. All the funding for these flights comes from donations and the people who carry out these tours are mostly volunteer. A group of people called guardians actually pay their way on these trips so that they can take care of these veterans and assure their health and safety.

In America and much of Europe, we take our freedoms for granted and rarely, if ever, consider the huge price paid in lives for these priviledges. These men and women who were going about their daily lives just as each of us do every day, gave up these comforts to march into the jaws of hell, so that we of future generations could speak our minds, worship as we see fit and pursue the happiness that the constitution guarantees us. For, if the amazing people who sacrificed so much for these rights had not answered the call, the guarantees of the constitution would have meant less than nothing.

Everyone should see this movie, "Honor Flight" and give whatever contributions they are able to make to give each of these brave veterans the chance to see the WWII Memorial, erected in their honor. My deepest gratitude goes to these courageous men and women who put everything at stake to give us the rights and freedoms we have today.

The film was provided by Freethink Media, partnered by Dan Hayes and Clay Broga. They both held many positions in the making of the film, but Dan Hayes directed it and Clay Broga produced it. The story begins in a small Wisconsin town where one of the real characters of the story resides. His name is Joe Demler and in case you were too young to see it or just missed it when it was published, his picture appeared on the cover of Life Magazine as the 'human skeleton'. He was interned in a Nazi prison camp and was starved until he was almost dead. This picture should forever remain in our memories so that we do not take lightly the tasks taken on by those we send to war.

"Every day is a bonus"

After the horrific treatment that Joe Demler experienced at the hands of the Nazis he saw something that only those facing death could have seen in those circumstances. He saw that every day is a bonus and this has become his daily homage to a life survived against all odds.

In this most amazing story, Joe, back in this small town in Wisconsin will never forget the history he shared with many for our sake, and may we always remember those who put us first so that we could have the most precious gift of all - freedom.

May God bless each and every one of these extraordinary veterans and may God bless each and every one of us with the gift of knowing, "Every day is a Bonus".

If you know a veteran from World War II, contact Honor Flight so that they will have the chance to participate in this before it is too late for them. The link to the Honor Flight website is below:

Do yourself a favor and see this film. You will be glad you did. Information on the film, its showing locations and dates is available on the second website below:

Comments 2 comments

This is certainly overdue. My father was a WWII and Korea vet. He died in 2005. Many of our vets of that era are unfortunately, gone now. This is a great piece to make us all aware of the existence of "Honor Flight."

CreatePerfection 3 years ago from Beautiful Colorado Author

aviannovice,

Thank you so much for this comment. We all owe these courageous veterans all that we have and will ever have. It is from them that our freedom was gifted to us and they risked everything to give it to us.